Penske: no points, but priceless experience

The famed CART team competed in an Indy Racing Northern Light Series race for the first time in Sunday's Phoenix season-opener. It was a warm-up for the 85th Indianapolis 500 in May, the team's first trip back to the Brickyard since it failed to make the field in 1995.

Although it was not a good day for team's two drivers - defending CART champion Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves -- both briefly led the race before the halfway mark.

De Ferran had assumed the lead during pit stops and was attempting to make his first pit stop when he slowed down on lap 77. According to a new IRL regulation, drivers making pit stops are suppose to slow down and drop low entering the third turn. But De Ferran did not appear to make his move until he was in the fourth turn and Jeret Schroeder ran into the back of his car, resulting in a three-car crash that also included Mark Dismore.

"He (Schroeder) probably didn't realize I was coming in," de Ferran said. "I thought I was slowing down enough. It was a misunderstanding. But I'm happy to see everyone is OK. This is obviously not the way we wanted to end the day, but we are looking forward to Indy."

Castroneves dropped out of the race on lap 142 when his engine blew up while running second.

"The engine just let go," Castroneves said. "Everyone was riding very clean out there and respecting each other with the exception of pit road. I think Team Penske did a good job here and hope we can do better at Indy."

Although this was not the way team owner Roger Penske had hoped the weekend would go, it will only motivate the most successful team owner in Indianapolis 500 history to prepare even harder for the Indy 500.

"I think that we did well," Penske said. "We were competitive. Unfortunately, Gil got drilled coming into the pits. We were right on our strategy, running conservatively on fuel. I think we learned a lot. We obviously need to get reliability up to where it needs to be."

Penske Racing will test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 22-23 with both drivers. There remains a possibility that Castroneves will go through the Rookie Orientation Program, although as a CART driver he is exempt from having to do that.



Although both cars dropped out of the race with Castroneves classified 18th and de Ferran 24th, they left a positive impression on the other teams in the rival Indy Racing League.

From the two shiny transporters to the immaculate motor-coach that team officials use as an office, to the freshly starched and cleaned uniforms with all shirt-tails tucked in, to the finely prepared race cars, Penske Racing epitomises a professional racing team. It's a level that many in the IRL would like to see its teams attempt to emulate.

"Without a doubt, Penske Racing has been a yardstick for racing for a long time," said David Cripps, a former CART engineer who works in the same capacity for Bradley Racing and driver Buzz Calkins. "They are a very clean, professional operation and their presence is something that will certainly help make the IRL well aware of what they need to do to help attract some sponsors."

Penske Racing was able to take a standard Dallara chassis and add its own touches of engineering and craftsmanship that helped the two race cars stand out.

"That is the advantage to a team that size," Cripps said. "They are able to do a lot of attention to detail because they have a lot of manufacturing capabilities and they have a lot of skill and a lot of talent.

"It's a standard all of us in the IRL need to attain no doubt about it. It's difficult to be hard on some of the IRL teams because they are trying their best, but I think it's good to be able to view pretty much what most people consider one of the top teams in open wheel racing in the United States."

On-track, the IRL's top drivers also respected what Penske brought to the party.

"I thought they were very strong," said Buddy Lazier, the third-place finisher. "I mean you could tell they came packing. There's no doubt they came with some ammunition and they had something up their sleeve and they were running hard. I think they would have had a hard time accomplishing the final result because there are a lot of us that were right there, too. They had a shot at it for sure."

Click here for the race result.